


A Legacy of Loss

by OrmondSacker



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Emotional Comfort, Genocide, Grief/Mourning, Jedha, M/M, Rage, Survivor's Rage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 16:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13505760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrmondSacker/pseuds/OrmondSacker
Summary: Finn visits the planet that his family came from





	A Legacy of Loss

Finn can see the beauty of what would once have been.

Jedha, once majestic, and galactic center of spirituality, first forgotten by an apathetic galaxy that no longer cared, then occupied and stripped by the Empire, only to finally be reduced to a broken shadow of its former self by those who had already robbed it of its heart.

His past, his family's home planet, his legacy.

Finn presses a hand against the viewport's transparisteel as he stares out on the shattered planet hanging in space in front of the ship.

A wave of grief and fury washes over him. 

This was the planet his ancestors had lived on for millennia, all that remained of its grandeur after the Empire was done with it and in their hate and malice had destroyed it as a 'weapon's test'. Jedha had in their eyes not even warranted being used as a message, its history, its tradition worth nothing in their eyes.

Tears of rage gather in his eyes and he let them run freely down his cheeks.

 _'We_ _perse_ _vered_ _, as we always have'_ , he hears the echo of his mother's voice say.  _'_ _Jedha_ _taught resilience as much as it did reverence'_.

He had thought she would try to dissuade him from going, tell him that there was nothing for him to see. Instead she had hugged him and told him to come back home when he was done.

He hasn't come alone. Poe is with him, standing silently next to him.

"Can we get down there?" Finn asks. "To the surface?"

"I think so, come on."

oOoOo

He thought he had seen the worst from above, that he'd be prepared for the destruction he'd see down here. But nothing could ready him for the devastation of Jedha's surface, the remnants of ruins and statues, that which once stood tall and proud and is now only crumbling relics.

But he has no more tears, all he can do is sit and stare out the cockpit and the howling storms that rages through the ruins.

The people of Jedha might endure, has rebuild elsewhere and begun to prosper once more after their devastation, but so much have been lost. Lives, history, languages that was once vital and living that now struggles not to die out completely. Disposed its people navigating between being true to themselves and simple survival in a galaxy that does not welcome reminders of what it stood by idly and let happen, who wishes now only to forget. Even more so now in the wake of yet another war and more people destroyed it is easier for all to push away what was done, to ignore the cost to the survivors and demand they move on.

Easier for all, except those who suffered the losses, who still remembers. Who's children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, still remembers, because they neither can, nor wishes to forget what was. Who will continue to hold on to their legacy, their history, their tradition, their people, in the face of a galaxy that tells them to forget.

The touch of Poe's hand on his shoulder draws his eyes and attention away from the destruction. There is sadness and anger in his lover's face as he leans down and gives Finn a hug, a hug Finn passionately returns.


End file.
